Summary of Iran Stories in Today&apos;s BroadcastsBehnam NateghiWednesday, February 11, 2004
<b>Khatami Avoids Urging Voters to Turnout in the Elections</b>
• In his speech at the official ceremony today in Tehran to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, President Khatami deliberately, and uncharacteristically, avoided urging the people to vote in the February 20 Majles elections. “Elections are a symbol of democracy if they are performed correctly, when the people, under the protection of the laws, see that in electing and being elected they are free,” he said. If, god forbid, this is restricted, it&apos;s a threat to the nation and the system. Since his complaint against the Guardians Council had been rebuffed by the Supreme Leader last week, Khatami had not publicly commented on the elections. By not urging the voters to turnout for the elections, he showed his displeasure with the conditions under which the elections will be held. (Siavash Ardalan)
• I promise that, just as people turned out for the marches on the anniversary of the revolution, they will turnout in great numbers for the February 20 elections, secretary of the Guardians Council Ahmad Jannati said today. The turnout will prove to the foreign powers that the regime is well-established, stable and has staying power, he added. (Ali Sajjadi)
• The current conflict over the elections would eventually lead to further depriving the people of their right to sovereignty, the society of human rights defenders, of which Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi is a member, said in a statement, calling the Guardian Council&apos;s bans on candidates contrary to the constitution. The society does not want to take a political position by boycotting the elections, a founding member of the Kanoon Modefean-e Hoquq-e Bashar Tehran-based lawyer <b>Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The society only comments from a legal point of view, he adds. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>Anniversary of the 1979 Revolution</b>
• Millions cheered on when Ayatollah Khomeini announced, on his return from 15-years of exile in Iraq and France, that his goal was to establish an Islamic government similar to the government founded by the prophet of Islam. The revolutionary fervor prevented the people from thinking about the meaning of Khomeini&apos;s words. Today, as they were 25 years ago, the streets are filled with marches, but while real people marched for the revolution in those days, the marchers today are culled from the social layers close to the regime, and the ceremonies are heavily coordinated by various government organs. (Bahman Bastani)
• The constitutional monarchists and republicans who campaign against the Islamic Republic aim for holding a free referendum on the form of Iran&apos;s future government, former crown prince <b>Reza Pahlavi</b>, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>, after speaking at a press conference in Paris calling for a boycott of the Majles elections. The goal of popular sovereignty is shared by all anti-regime activists, he adds. We share the same goal until the day of the referendum, in which the republicans and the constitutional monarchists can vote for their favorite forms of government. Until then, we have to work together to achieve our common goal, which is to achieve the right to choose. Looking at it this way, there is no difference between us, and there are many political leaders from both sides that are working together in an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation, he adds. My role, he says, is to create more links between the active forces present on the scene, inside and outside Iran. The participation of all Iranians in this process is the only condition for success. The Islamic Republic, he adds, is now more than ever isolated, domestically and internationally. The regime&apos;s only hope is to mislead the world by pretending that it has legitimacy through people&apos;s participation in its projects, such as the Majles elections. The people have fully understood this. Another claim the regime has to legitimacy is that is a party to negotiations with world powers, something which foreign governments must be aware of and avoid. In fact, the fall of this regime is certain; the only question that remains is the timing of the fall, he adds. (Mir-Ali Hosseini)
• The Islamic Republic introduced certain values, such as anti-imperialism, pro-labor, anti-western culture, and support for the dispossessed, Munich-based writer and freedom of speech advocate <b>Faraj Sarkouhi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. However, he adds, the generation which grew up after the revolution, found new values of its own, such as nihilism, mistrust for any big idea or political philosophy, and disbelief, which were the result of the failure of the regime to fulfill the revolutionary ideals and values; and also a result of the defeat of the left, the Mojahedin Khalq, the communists and even the liberals. Reacting to the regime&apos;s oppression and inspired by the new communications technology, all that the young generation now demands in a faster integration with the west. But the worst outcome of the revolution&apos;s failure is the domination of the culture of profiteering, thievery, bribery, fraud and official corruption, he adds. (Nima Tamadon)
• As the Islamic Republic celebrated the revolution&apos;s anniversary with official marches and speeches inside Iran, Iranian exiles in the West demonstrated in front of the Islamic government&apos;s diplomatic missions. In European capitals, the official ceremonies were held within the embassies, and behind closed doors, to which ordinary people had no access. (Alireza Taheri)
• Many statistics that were used to justify the Islamic Revolution turned out to be untrue, Washington-based activist <b>Hossein Lajevardi</b>, who left his studies in France 25 years ago in order to join the revolutionaries in Iran, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. For example, he says, according to the introduction of the Islamic Republic constitution, 100,000 died in the struggle for the revolution, but a year after the revolution, when the government passed a law to give one million rials each to the families of those who lost their lives during the revolution, only 660 people applied. We were young and believed that the Shah&apos;s regime had filled cemeteries with freedom-seekers, but after the revolution, we saw that the Islamic regime killed more people in one year than the Shah did in his 30 years in power, New Haven-based human rights activist <b>Dr. Ramin Ahmadi</b>, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Ali Sajjadi)
• Senator Sam Brownback spoke to the crowd of anti-regime Iranians gathered in front of the US Congress on the anniversary of the Islamic revolution. In interviews with <b>Radio Farda</b>, demonstrators, including Los Angeles-based playwright <b>Parviz Sayyad</b>, express their solidarity with democracy-seeking people inside Iran. (Mahdieh Javid)
• In a rally in front of the Federal building in Los Angels, more than 7,000 demonstrators gathered, holding up portraits of former crown prince Reza Pahlavi. In an interview with <b>Radio Farda</b>, rally organizer <b>Foad Pashai</b> says eleven chartered buses brought people from various cities in Southern California to the rally. Political activist <b>Suzie Yashar</b> says the demonstrators want to ask their compatriots inside Iran to stay home on the elections day and do nothing. “We shall be your voice here,” she adds. I cannot support a system that counts my mother, my sister and my daughter has half persons, member of the national alliance for democracy in Iran <b>Alireza Sabouri</b> says. (Firouzeh Khatibi, Los Angeles)
• We have gathered here to tell the people, the young people, the intellectuals in the regime&apos;s prisons, and all the friends and comrades inside Iran, that they are not alone, a demonstrator tells <b>Radio Farda</b> during an anti-regime rally in Cologne on the 25th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
• In a rally staged by the Iranian socialist party in front of the Islamic government&apos;s embassy in Bern, Switzerland, the participants honored the memory of the victims of political oppression of the past 25 years. The message of the participants in this rally to the Iranian people is that they must avoid taking part in the “compromised” elections. Meanwhile, a group calling themselves “Followers of the Aryamehr” staged a rally honoring the former Shah in front of the Islamic government&apos;s embassy in Berlin. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
• “Today, instead of reveling in the Islamic justice and democracy once promised by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranians are racked with doubts. They question clerical rule, doubt the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and are disillusioned by unmet expectations,” <i>the Christian Science Monitor</i> writes. (Mehdi Khalaji, Ali Sajjadi)
• President Khatami did little to deliver on the reform movement&apos;s promises, and showed weakness in his dealings with the Supreme Leader appointed organs, such as the Guardians Council and the Expediency Council, German daily <i>Frankfurter Allgemeine</i> writes in an assessment of Khatami&apos;s nearly seven years in office. (Parviz Farhang, Cologne)
• Despite the lights glowing all over Tehran in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the revolution, Tehran residents appear uninterested. From Tehran to Qum, the number of Islamic thinkers who reject cleric rule is on the rise, Paris daily <i>Le Figaro</i> writes in a dispatch from Tehran. (Mir-Ali Hosseini)
<b>50,000 Iraqi Refugees Return Home</b>
• Quoting Iranian authorities, the UN announced that since the fall of Saddam Hossein nearly 50,000 Iraqi refugees have returned home. According to UNHRC, more than 200,000 Iraqis sought refuge in Iran to escape persecution by Saddam&apos;s regime after the 1991 Persian Gulf war. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>RSF Protests Judiciary&apos;s Warnings to Eight Newspapers</b>
• The warnings issued by Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi to eight reformist newspapers about their reports on the protests by MPs barred by the Guardians Council from running for reelection prompted a protest statement by the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontiers. The press freedom advocacy group said in its statement that <i>Yaas-e Now</i>, <i>Etemad</i>, <i>Shargh</i>, <i>Nasim-e Saba</i>, <i>Mardomsalari</i> and <i>Aftab-e Yazd</i> are among the newspapers who have received warnings from the Tehran prosecutor. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b> “Islamic Economy” Fades, 25 Years after the Revolution</b>
• The economic goals of the Islamic regime, as defined in its constitution, had been elimination of poverty, jobs for everyone, national self-sufficiency in production of goods and services, and protecting national economy from foreign domination. To achieve all these goals, the constitution had borrowed from communism; it nationalized banking and insurance, as well as all major industries. It had also cut off access to foreign capital by banning foreign investment. Twenty-five years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the concept of “Islamic Economy” has all but vanished. The Islamic regime is now struggling with the same problems that all Third World oil-producing nations face when they fail to implement economic reforms. In an attempt to break the deadlock of a closed, state-dominated, oil-dependent economy, a branch of the reformist faction of the regime seeks salvation in the World Bank and IMF guidelines, but the conservatives favor the so-called “China model” or what they understand of it. Neither faction mentions the “Islamic Economy” anymore. (Fereydoun Khavand)
• Compared to pre-revolution era, the country&apos;s dependence on oil has increased, because by forcing the industrialists and factory owners to flee, the Islamic revolution destroyed the country&apos;s industrial base early on, <b>Radio Farda</b>&apos;s Paris-based economic commentator <b>Fereydoun Khavand</b> says. The Iran-Iraq war intensified this phenomenon, he adds. Iran&apos;s per-capita GDP at $1,700 per year is lower than that of Jordan, Tunisia and Lebanon. If it was not for the higher oil prices of the past few years, the country&apos;s economic conditions would have been even worse than this, he adds. During the past 25 years, the Islamic regime lost many great economic opportunities, such as Caspian Sea oil pipeline, which instead of passing through Iran on its way to the Persian Gulf, has been routed through Georgia and Turkey, due to the regime&apos;s diplomatic weakness. (Bahman Bastani)
<b>Refugees Demonstrate in The Hague against Deportation</b>
• Protesting against the passage of a new immigration bill in the Netherlands parliament, which calls for deporting more than 26,000 asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected in appeal, thousands, including hundreds of Iranians, held a rally in The Hague. An Iranian man stitched his lips and eyelids in protest. Immigration laws were very lax under the socialists in the 1990s, and thousands of refugees flooded Dutch cities, socialist party activist and member of the Delf city council <b>Behnam Taebi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. As a result, the laws have now been changed, making it more difficult for refugees to be admitted on political asylum, he adds. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا طي سخناني در دانشگاه دفاع ملي آمريكا خواستار تدوين استراتژي جديد جهاني براي كنترل خريدو فروش سلاح هاي كشتار جمعي و جلوگيري از افتادن اين سلاحها به دست كشورهاي ياغي و انتقال آنها به تروريست ها شد و گفت آمريكا 20 ميليارد دلار براي حفظ امنيت سلاحهاي هسته اي و مواد اتمي موجود كمك مي كند. رئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت چهل كشور تامين كنننده تكنولوژي هسته اي بايد با همكاري يكديگر بكوشند توليد سوخت اتمي به كشورهائي محدود شود كه تاكنون از اين تكنولوژي برخوردار بوده اند و اين امكان در اختيار كشورهائي كه بالقوه توانائي اين كار را دارند، قرار نگيرد. وي همچنين خواهان پيوستن كشورهاي بيشتر به پيمان رهگيري كشتي ها و هواپيماهاي حامل تسليحات غيرمجاز شد. وي از نظام اطلاعاتي آمريكا كه اخيرا به خاطر عدم يافتن سلاحهاي كشتار جمعي عراق دفاع كرد و گفت شبكه غيرقانوني توزيع تكنولوژي هسته اي كه پدر بمب اتمي پاكستان عبدالقدير خان تاسيس كرد، با همكاري مشترك دستگاه هاي اطلاعاتي بريتانيا و آمريكا كشف و افشا شد. وي تصويب پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاحهاي اتمي را از كنگره آمريكا تقاضا كرد.